What do I need to do in order to watch videos on Twitch in the default Firefox installation that comes with Fedora Kinoite? Whenever I try to do so, I get the error message “this video is unavailable or not supported in this browser (Error 4000)”. Is there any way to resolve this issue without having to deploy a different Flatpak version of the Firefox installer?
Related question: how do you actually remove Firefox altogether from Fedora Kinoite? Every time I try to uninstall it, it immediately re-installs itself.
Install RPM Fusion for the codecs and things on the baked in Firefox, or install the Firefox flatpak from Flathub (which will replace the baked in Firefox) and install the full ffmpeg runtime from Flathub.
The Flathub method is what I use on Silverblue and Kinoite (it’s the least hassle and doesn’t introduce a whole bunch of layered packages). I use RPM Fusion for just regular Fedora.
As for how to remove Firefox… sudo rpm-ostree remove firefox, and remove any supporting packages as well was my experience. However, I stoppped doing that and just installed the Flathub version, since as I said, it just supersedes the baked in version.
Apologies, uninstall, not remove for rpm-ostree. Remove is for dnf. You can read the docs here.
When you issue the uninstall command for firefox it will spit out a warning saying that X packages rely on it. I believe langpacks was one package, maybe a few others. You remove all of those packages and firefox in one go. It’s been a while since I did it, as I say, I just install the Flathub version and let it override the baked in version.
If I attempt to uninstall Firefox via the KDE GUI by using the “Uninstall or Manage Add-Ons” option, it is “removed” from the system and then is immediately reinstalled by Discover in the background. If I attempt to remove it from the system by using “sudo rpm-ostree uninstall firefox”, it refuses to uninstall altogether and says:
“error: Package/capability ‘firefox’ is not currently requested”
So it looks like I am going to have to install the Flatpak version “over” the default version on my system.
Another follow-up question: why is the “default” Firefox install in Kinoite not configured to play Twitch video? Something about proprietary codecs? A configuration mistake on the image?
Strange. But not unsurprising. It’s been a while since I’ve done it.
I’m pretty sure Fedora’s own Flatpak version doesn’t have the appropriate codecs bundled with it, just like the baked in version. So you will need to use the Flathub version and then installing the ffmpeg runtime that matches the Firefox from Flathub runtime.
After you install Firefox from Flathub you can check the runtime with sudo flatpak info org.mozilla.firefox and it’ll spit out the information. The runtime will most likely be 24.08. You then install the ffmpeg runtime with sudo flatpak install org.freedesktop.Platform.ffmpeg-full and when it gives you the multiple choice of which version to install, you select the 24.08 option.
That’s about the gist of it and one of the reasons RPM Fusion exists. Proprietary or legally questionable drivers and codecs that Fedora/Red Hat don’t want to deal with. Other distros get around this by being based outside the US, or simply not caring about US copyright law.
The rpm-ostree uninstall command is valid for removing packages layered on top of the OSTree image. In order to remove a package from the base image, the command is rpm-ostree override remove <package>, which in case of Firefox should be:
The result will be a RemovedBasePackages line for each new deployment displayed by the rpm-ostree status command.
According to the man page, the rpm-ostree override commands “should be done with care and are normally not intended to be long-lasting”. However, I had no issues with override-removing Firefox for some time now, and neither have I heard from others doing the same.